Dog Training Tips & More #1

Cotswold Pet Services

Newsletter #1 Dog related Facts, Tips, News & Offers

Dear Dog owner

Welcome to the very first Cotswold Pet Services newsletter. You will be receiving this newsletter if you are a regular customer of ours or have registered with us for free information or samples.
The newsletter will be issued monthly and we hope to bring you lots of interesting information such as; Dog training tips, Health matters, Dog shows, Breed focus, a section on gundogs and working dogs,little known facts, and much more.

Shows

Midland Game Fair - Weston Park

Squires & Beaumont our gundog food supplier will be having a stand at the show, please feel free to pop along and speak to Mike Pettifer

Dog Behaviour Spot

The Tail

The tail can say a lot about what a dog is thinking . Although there are obviously breed differences in the way the tail is held, there are certain basic positions common to all dogs;

High & Slightly curved means "I'm in control"
Tail between the legs means "I'm scared"
Horizontal but not stiff says "What's going on "

Tail Wagging

Stiff upright tail wagging can warn of an imminent attack
Low wag usually indicates friendly intentions

Dogs poorly socialised may lack experience in performing or interpreting tail wagging.

Breed Focus

Golden Retriever

UK Gundog Group
Colours; Gold, Cream
Originally known as flat -coats and defined by their yellow colour , in 1920 they took the name, Golden Retriever
Created during the 19thC by the mating of a yellow Wavy-coated retriever to a Tweed water spaniel and the puppies that ensued were acknowledged as the ancestors of all Golden Retrievers
Biddable and intelligent , with natural working ability. Kind friendly and confident making it one of the most popular breeds in the world.

Thinking of getting a Golden Retriever?

Energy levels Medium - 80 to 100 minutes , a reasonable amount per day!
Distress if left alone - Medium
Aggression - Low
Suitability for Children - High
Feeding - Golden Retrievers will eat almost anything and prone to weight gain. From personal experience with my dog Max I would recommend a specific Gundog food and in Max's case a high protein level seems to give him a "kick" in the weight loss department,
try Squires & Beaumont Regular Plus 26%

They also love water and seem able to "sniff out " the muddiest puddle when you can't see anything.

Dog Health

For a useful article on Dogs and hot weather check out our article How to keep your dog safe in hot weather


Cotswold Pet Services Update

Free Dog Training Profile! Here you can get Free advice regarding specific problems with your dog or simply ask us a question. In return we will send you a Free Report with advice and recommendations!


Get dog food for free!
Squires & Beaumont Loyalty Schemes

Thank you for your attention and I hope you found something useful here.

If you have any comments or questions please feel free to contact me at Contact Me or use the Free Training Profile Form -
Free Dog Training Profile

Best wishes


Keith Fallon
Owner, Cotswold Pet Services
PS If you found this Newsletter of interest please forward to a friend

To buy Squires & Beaumont Gundog food with free UK delivery please go to Squires & Beaumont Gundog food
For Training or Dog Exercise enquiries for the Cotswolds area please go to Cotswold Pet Services

Cotswold Pet Services
Northleach
Gloucestershire
GL54 3HJ

Tel: 01451 861870 / 07816 788224



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Squires & Beaumont GunDog Food

Cotswold Pet Services can now supply Squires & Beaumont GunDog Food.

The Field Dog & Game range is made with high quality ingredients which are highly digestible and nutritious.

There are four foods in the range, 23% protein, 26% protein (gluten free), Gamekeeper's choice (19% protein) and Puppy

Northleach and surrounding areas

I live in Northleach but as part of my daily business, travel extensively through the surrounding villages and towns. I thought it would be useful start a blog where we can air our views, likes/dislikes, primarily with regard to pet ownership but maybe moving onto other topics such as speeding, or rural life in general.

Cotswold Pet Services launches Cotswold dog care service

Cotswold Pet Services based in Northleach has recently re-launched a range of dog related services covering the North Cotswolds

Cotswold Pet Services were formerly known as Paws4walks and offer several services to Cotswold dog owners including dog walking, dog exercise programs, dog socialisation, with dog food and other servies to follow.
One unique service is the Collect and Exercise service which is where the dog is collected and taken to their own 1 acre exercise field for a safe, fun walk / run either alone or with other dogs.

The idea behind this service is to allow the dogs to have at least one or two good quality runs if their owners are too busy to exercise them as much as they should be.

Dog obesity is a hot topic at the moment and Cotswold Pet Services will offer a tailor made exercise and nutrition program to gradually reduce weight and improve the dogs overall condition.

Max's Weight Loss Regime

Max's Weight and Fitness Program

How our overweight Retriever lost 5 kg.

Our Golden Retriever Max, 6 years of age having undergone the snip managed to achieve enough weight gain to push him to 44kgs.

The recommended weight for an Adult Male Golden Retriver is between 30 and 35 kgs. Every vet we saw would point out that he was grossly overweight and this could shorten his life span, and aggravate his genetic predisposition to hip problems.

We were given a great deal of conflciting advice. "He needs more exercise", "he needs this special expensive fat inhibiting fluid", "he needs this food for obese dogs"... it went on and on

What puzzled us was that he seemed extremely fit and active for a seemingly obese dog.

He enjoyed swimming and we took him on regular long country walks.

We cut down his food to two meals a day, the usual tinned food with a mixer that so many people feed their dogs plus the odd treat such as left over dinners. This seemed alright as he was getting so much exercise.

Admittedly he seemed a little larger but not obese?

After seeing yet another vet and being told yet again he was overweight we decided that something had to be done!
We tried various different foods for overweight dogs to no avail;he wouldn't actually eat some of them.
In the process of getting our new working English Springer, Skye we noticed the excellent condition that the breeder's dogs were in.

As an side Skye comes from an excellent Pedigree. Her father was Gaffer of EdgeGrove Gundogs -www.edgegrovegundogs.co.uk/.

Jeremy from Edgegrove had enthused about the litter of pups due from the breeder, Derek and Lynne from Bicester, sired by his dog Gaffer.
We asked them what they fed their Springers on and if it would help Max.

The advice we were given was that they fed their dogs on a Working dog mix and only one meal a day!

This didn't seem enough for a big dog like Max but we decided to give it a go.
Some weeks later Max has shed 5kgs and is still losing weight. He has his one meal in the evening which he eats slowly and with relish.
Apart from the obvious weight loss we've noticed a marked improvement in his energy and enthusiasm.
Recently he has being clearing fairly sizeable stone walls!
In conclusion it seems that dogs do not these huge quantities of food and titbits to be healthy and happy.
We would recommend a nutritious but restricted food supply with plenty of varied exercise.
Thanks to Lynne and Derek and to Jeremy of EdgeGrove for putting us in touch!

KF & FK - http://www.paws4walkscotswolds.co.uk/

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Sunday 20th January

Skye is showing promising signs as a gundog, we bought a toy pheasant and she enjoys retrieving it.

She still has not distinguished between a soft bit and a real bite! We have taken to wearing shoes in the house to protect our feet.

Our two year old daughter definitely has future potential in the field with her commands to Skye, she knows 'sit down', 'Skye no', and is training Skye to retrieve her toys.

The Skye Diary

The Skye Diary

Observations of a Working English Springer Spaniel

Name: SKYE Age: 8 weeks and a bit

Breed and Sex: Working English Springer Spaniel Bitch
08/01/08 - Skye has discovered how to squeeze past the stair gate and get upstairs. Hopefully she will be too big soon to do this. She has adopted Max our 6 year old Golden Retriever as her "big brother". She has also discovered gardening...

15/01/08 - Skye is growing fast and seems to have boundless energy. She has become adept at annoying Max. We're just trying to teach her to "soft mouth". That is softly bite/play and not clamp down hard on our hands!

18/01/08 - Skye has had an unfortunate accident. She was busy pestering our 6 year old Retriever who doubtless was fed up of her nipping at him constantly. He fired off a warning shot only to nip her right ear! A trip to the vet followed and she now has a Buster collar on and taking a course of antibiotics. She has taken this all in her stride though and still continues to harangue him although a little more cautiously. They are tough little dogs!